A Brief Conversation
Speaking with
Professor Niloufer Selvadurai Nerissa Puth
Professor Niloufer Selvadurai is the Editor-In-Chief of the International Journal of Technology Policy and Law and Telecommunications, Editor of the Australian Journal of Competition and Consumer Law and Professor at Macquarie Law School, teaching Information Technology (‘IT’) law and Intellectual Property (‘IP’) law. With a vast portfolio across private practice and academia, she was part of the legal team acting for Optus’ in their bid to become the second telecommunication carrier in Australia and has contributed her expertise widely to law reform inquiries.
I sat down with Professor Niloufer Selvadurai to find out about her exploration of the new frontiers of technology law research, her current areas of research, and her opinion on the unintended (or, intended) consequences of Artificial Intelligence. The Brief would like to thank Professor Niloufer Selvadurai for her time, and her incredible insights on the necessary approach towards governing AI.
What brought you into academia and more broadly, what attracted you to your research in how technological changes undermine the effectiveness of the law? Initially, I practiced as a solicitor. I started work at Allens and then Ashurst, both in the technology and media law units. I was involved in Optus’ bid to Ed.1 2020
become the second telecommunications carrier in Australia. That introduced me to telecommunications and technology law. I thought there was a lot of potential in the area because many lawyers considered it to be rather too technical and not very interesting. So, I thought that it was a really fascinating area where I could add some value and do something new and original. When I moved into academia in 2004, there was also next to nothing written on technology and telecommunications law from an academic point of view. It was a wide-open frontier, and to some extent it still is. People interested in IT law often move into practice because there are many opportunities. So [technology law and telecommunications law] is actually quite a small academic field.
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